WE NEED YOUR HELP

Our homes have survived because so many people have supported our 8 year campaign. They’ve written letters, signed petitions, and attended meetings, donated time, money and skills. A big thank you to everyone for the moral & practical support. Contact us if you want to join in using the donate buttons here, via Twitter @welshstreets or Welsh Streets Home on Facebook

This weekend Placefirst will open their sales office and start finding occupants for the first batch of refurbished Welsh Streets houses in High Park Street and Veolas Street. After standing empty for 13 years while a dispute about area improvements was resolved, the two storey Victorian […]

Rebirth of the Welsh Streets

This weekend Placefirst will open their sales office and start finding occupants for the first batch of refurbished Welsh Streets houses in High Park Street and Veolas Street. After standing empty for 13 years while a dispute about area improvements was resolved, the two storey Victorian terraces will enter a new era, as homes fit for the 21st century. This is viewed by many local people, and visitors to the area, as an inspiring conclusion to a long story. Something that for a long time seemed impossible has happened here. The patience and imagination of Liverpool City Council, their partner organisations Plus Dane and Placefirst, and of course local residents, has finally paid off. The Welsh Streets have been reborn, or at least very good progress made towards that aim. Once silent and sorrowful streets will again be filled with life and laughter, as for the first time since 2004 people move into, rather than out of, the Welsh Streets.

The houses have super efficient insulation, private terraces and communal gardens, and will at this stage all be for private rental. It is anticipated that some of the old community will want to return to the area, joining a new population who arrive from elsewhere. We feel that anyone visiting the cleverly remodeled houses at the launch this weekend, will understand why a committed and creative campaign was run by local residents, to rescue the terraces from demolition.

The Welsh Streets Homes Group encouraged the use of photography, art, theatre, film and poetry to encourage a rethink of plans to bulldoze existing houses, along side a conventional press campaign. We lobbied Local and National Government, produced Select Committee evidence and worked with worked with other anti-demolition campaigners, Empty Homes, Eco Build and Heritage organisations. Most importantly we worked with local architects and engineers to learn how the houses could be reworked for future generations to enjoy. It is fantastic to see a sympathetic approach taken by the developers brought in by Liverpool City Council – Placefirst, in their first phase of refurbishment. Our quest to see alternatives to demolition has been realised and a high quality scheme is now being delivered.

Welsh Streets Home Group spokesperson Nina Edge said

‘Placefirst have done an exceptional job of redesigning these simple terraces to deliver interesting, well lit, easy to heat, economical to run living spaces. The new neighbourhood will be connected by planted areas to the front and rear of the properties, and in these conditions community will grow, and people will thrive. It is as if finally there is a living example of what we as a campaign group always felt was possible with the right investment.’

There will be a small amount of demolition and new build on site, and it is hoped that local residents who have sought new homes here will finally have their hopes fulfilled too.

A huge number of people who have contributed to the success of this grassroots campaign to see more refurbishment for the Welsh Streets. Photographers, film makers, architects, writers, journalists, advisors, archivists, pop fans, planning experts, engineers, friends and families.

Thank you so much – without you there is no doubt that the Welsh Streets would no longer exist.

The Welsh Streets Home Group often meet people admiring the newly refurbished houses on High Park Street and Voelas Street. People say they are glad to see ruined houses transformed for future use. The big news for us today is that tenure mix has been taken on board so a wide range of people can […]

The Welsh Streets Home Group often meet people admiring the newly refurbished houses on High Park Street and Voelas Street. People say they are glad to see ruined houses transformed for future use. The big news for us today is that tenure mix has been taken on board so a wide range of people can access living in this unique area. There will be affordable rent and private rental properties, and also rent to buy, shared ownership, and market sales in the new Welsh Streets. Perhaps people who used to live here will return, to join new arrivals, some of whom campaigned to save these homes for many years. We foresee that the Welsh Streets will once again be home to a thriving and caring community.

Welsh Streets residents and the broader community have been invited to see a new masterplan for the area presented by Manchester developers Place First at Toxteth Town Hall, Liverpool this afternoon.

The proposal follows a 2015 ruling by […]

Photo Kelvin Grove nina edge Feb 2005

PLACED LAST !

Welsh Streets residents and the broader community have been invited to see a new masterplan for the area presented by Manchester developers Place First at Toxteth Town Hall, Liverpool this afternoon.

The proposal follows a 2015 ruling by Eric Pickles, then Conservative Minster for Local Government and Communities, who stated that as many of the existing streets and trees on the contested site must be retained in any future development. This ruling negated previous aspirations by Plus Dane and Liverpool City Council to demolish all the houses, as part of the controversial HMRI Pathfinder Scheme. It further disappointed local residents in the Welsh Streets Home Group (WSHG) who had sought a mixed development allowing some demolition and new build alongside some refurbishment. This would have been funded by not for profit organisations co-ops and private developers some of whom have offered financial involvement from 2006 through to 2017 giving all involved confidence that some one will in due course repair the site.

By 2016 Liverpool City Council had invited Place First who repair empty properties for private rental to propose a masterplan for the area and run a pilot repair scheme in Voelas St. The houses they are currently completing on High Park Street speak for themselves in terms of quality, and illustrate why so many people became involved in campaigning for a level of retention for these wide terraced streets.

However at recent WSHG meetings there has been frustration with the prolonged degradation of Kelvin Grove and calls for urgent repair and reoccupation, along with immediate attention to drug dealing problems in back Kelvin Grove. Residents asked again to see some of the houses currently divided into small flats and bedsits to be de-converted into large much needed family homes for people living in extended families or working from home. There were also calls to look again at tenure mix and to let some property become private owned again, with some for sale to local families, for local co-ops and low cost rental, and rent to buy models be provided. This would create investment opportunity for the local community and provide some protection from the inherent risks of allowing a single investor full rein over such a large site. The overwhelming view of the meeting was to seek an urgent solution for Kelvin Grove since is it an occupied street, and has endured the longest period of decant.

It is 13 years since the Welsh Streets were threatened with demolition in 2004. As long ago as 2011 Kelvin Grove was removed from this threat & refurbishment agreed as long as campaigners could be put finance for repairs in place.

( http://www.welshstreets.co.uk/?page_id=686 ) Despite private developers, coops, and individuals buyers offering to repair and reoccupy Kelvin Grove, it was not released for refurbishment. Even an allocation of funds from the now defunct government Empty Homes fund was turned away and increasingly frustrated residents are still waiting for progress. Six years after being removed from demolition plans, eleven years after raising the necessary finance for repairs, thirteen years after the local authority emptied the street, and twelve years since all repairs were withheld residents in Kelvin Grove are waiting. Our concern is that Kelvin Grove might well be among the last streets to be repaired in the Place First scheme, with an estimated completion time of three years from now. That would bring us to 2020 after sixteen years of failed area renewal.

So whilst welcoming the expertise, design work and commitment Place First are bringing to the area there is dismay and disappointment that the people who did so much to protect and promote the site, might be the last to benefit from it’s repair.

Spokesperson for the Welsh Streets Home Group Nina Edge said

‘ This prolonged process has caused many people heartache and worry. We hope Kelvin Grove can be fixed sooner rather than later – but at least it is being fixed. We look forward to a time of resolution, repair, re-occupation, and community building. Our long term aim to eventually hold a party at which everyone involved in the area has something to celebrate still stands. In the meantime we wish Place First and Plus Dane all the best with their work to create a new Welsh Streets’

Place First and Plus Dane present their vision for The Welsh Streets from 3.00 until 6.30 on Thursday 16th March. Please contact Place First for details of how to access new homes. ( 0161 413 5810 welshstreets@placefirst.co.uk )

The Welsh Streets Home Group under-stand that Liverpool City Council and Plus Dane have withdrawn their legal appeal against the 2014 Welsh Streets Public Inquiry decision.

The controversial decision, made by then Secretary of State Eric Pickles, to refuse planning permission to demolish 440 houses in Liverpool’s Welsh Streets now stands. […]

The Welsh Streets Home Group under-stand that Liverpool City Council and Plus Dane have withdrawn their legal appeal against the 2014 Welsh Streets Public Inquiry decision.

The controversial decision, made by then Secretary of State Eric Pickles, to refuse planning permission to demolish 440 houses in Liverpool’s Welsh Streets now stands. A campaign to retain at least some of the houses was fought over a 12 year period by local residents, who reluctantly agreed not to oppose the demolition plans after around 10 % of the site was earmarked for refurbishment.

The campaigners met to reflect on the announcement today, and agreed that they are relieved the appeal has now been dropped. There were concerns that it would have resulted in further delay, further cost, and increased tension among residents who from the start were divided in their ambitions for the Welsh Streets in L8. Although residents initially felt an appeal might help to move the troubled regeneration scheme forward, it offered no route to delivery of a scheme. Even if an appeal succeeded, funds to deliver the scheme, which had included the refurbishment of just 37 houses were lost in 2014. People living in or around the Welsh Streets, or who work on the scheme, all seem to want to achieve a result as soon as possible ending 12 years of uncertainty.

Nina Edge secretary and spokesperson for the Welsh Streets Home Group said

“ The appeal was announced almost a year ago, and now it has apparently been dropped. Fingers crossed that Liverpool City Council and Plus Dane have now got an alternative vision for the area. We welcome any moves on the ground to finally deliver a scheme that gives the people of the Welsh Streets the new or refurbished homes they have longed for.

We know that new financial offers to increase the number of refurbished streets were tabled with Liverpool City Council in June this year. WSHG have had informal discussions with a couple more financial backers. All of these offers are from local companies or people with experience of refurbishing with Liverpool Communities. Now the appeal has been dropped, who knows – maybe more people will step up with the resources we need to deliver a really good scheme. We are hoping for a new beginning.”

Liverpool City Council have until the end of today – Thursday 27th February to appeal against Eric Pickles’ decision to block proposals to demolish most of the Welsh Streets in Liverpool’s Princess Park.

The Planning Application from Plus Dane that threatened to demolish all but 40 houses on […]

Liverpool City Council have until the end of today – Thursday 27th February to appeal against Eric Pickles’ decision to block proposals to demolish most of the Welsh Streets in Liverpool’s Princess Park.

The Planning Application from Plus Dane that threatened to demolish all but 40 houses on the fiercely contested site was blocked by the Secretary of State Eric Pickles in January. The Welsh Streets Home Group and other local campaigners sadly and reluctantly accepted the now blocked development proposals in 2012 following a campaign to save more of the site, it’s community, and its unique sense of place.

The legendary anti-demolition campaign was run by residents in Welsh Streets houses or streets adjoining the demolition zone for eleven years. During this time the (New Labour) Housing Market Renewal Scheme that lead to the deliberate blighting of the area was dropped by the (Coalition) Government in 2011. However the authorities continually rejected offers from the public, from developers and local housing co-ops to buy and repair the houses. Houses that have stood – still apparently saved, but un-repaired for a further four years……and counting.

Community tensions between people who sought new houses, and people who favoured refurbishment have suffered during as a decade of delays. Physical conditions for remaining residents have deteriorated. Permanent tension and worry has left many people desperate for a conclusion of any kind. The council has until tomorrow to lodge an appeal and appeal to have a Judicial Review of the Secretary of State’s refusal of of planning content. Apparently an appeal may be heard if the Eric Pickles is seen to have exceeded his powers by blocking Plus Dane’s plan.

Our statement to the press today is this –

“We are weary of this situation. Nobody from the Council has bothered to contact us following Pickles shock decision in January. We don’t know what an appeal means for us, how it is decided, what it will cost, or how long it will take. It is impossible to know if an appeal will have any benefit to residents. It is impossible to know if we will be punished further.

At the same time we don’t know what happens if there is no appeal, and we don’t know if the money earmarked to repair or replace houses here has been lost. WSHG have written to the council and Plus offering our support with developing a solution. Requests have been made to ring fence the money until a design solution is found. Once again we call for residents needs to be prioritized and for people in decrepit housing to be provided with decent homes immediately until such time as there is a long term solution on the site. So what next ?”

Among the very few things missing from David’s account is mention that individuals, families and heritage investors have offered to buy all or part of the site and do repairs at their own cost. Pavements, street furniture and other public realm renewal might have to be funded separately, but as we reported to the Public Inspector over three hundred would be buyers, and five sizable investors made offers on all or part of the site in the past 11 years. This includes local housing co-ops, and reputable heritage re-modellers. We felt their offers should be considered and encouraged as they would bring much needed diversity to the site, and help to create a sustainable community. We mention it now, because now seems a good time to look again at the options these investors offer. The Plus Dane proposal has been blocked by Secretary of State Eric Pickles and residents are yet again left with no end to broken promises and false starts.

It seems absurd that only public subsidy has been seen as a means to fund renewal of the area, because ultimately and after demolition plans were to sell most of the new homes to private buyers. The refusal of the cash strapped council to sell existing houses to willing buyers, but be willing to sell replacement new houses remains a mystery (see a suitably mystified would be buyer here )

If Plus Dane Group and LCC had included more kinds of investment into different kinds of property and to effectively share the site, we perhaps would not now be facing further prolonged delays. We call on all those involved to now put completing the Welsh Streets area renewal at the very top of their list of things to do in 2015 and to be open to a changed scheme. We particularly want to see anyone in housing distress rehoused immediately, with an option to return to a new or refurbished house in the area when the work is complete. Will this, like other calls fall on deaf ears ?

Also missing from David’s excellent report is the Welsh Streets Home Group community lead design project Design Diplomacy. This local research project is also worth a mention now, as it addresses what the options might be if the whole site were not demolished. We commissioned energy efficiency experts Constructive Thinking Architects to produce some discussion designs and budgets so we could see what fixing, or extending existing houses, building new homes, and including community amenities might look like and cost. Whilst this project was initially designed to avert the need for a Public Inquiry perhaps it can now form the foundation to satisfy a variety of interests on the site, quickly and peaceably. We certainly don’t want a war on the Welsh Streets.

This week we heard that people seem unaware that our discussion design options were properly costed by professional architects. So for the record – Jon Morehouse from Constructive Thinking presented Design Diplomacy Project documents to senior housing staff at LCC offices in September 20,12 with costs for all units included. He was complimented by Plus Dane’s head of Regeneration for his accurate and realistic figures. You can see the work for yourself linked below, a summary of the community feedback was supplied to the Public Inquiry and will soon be published. It shows overwhelming local interest in retaining more and demolishing less.

For those who don’t want to open the link – the per metre cost for refurbishment was the same as the square metre cost for new build to provide homes with similar running costs.

In addition SAVE Britain’s Heritage and LCC both sent surveyors into a sample of empty Welsh Street houses to asses the cost of repairs in Spring 2014. Both parties agreed the sums needed for repairs and insulation, and these costs match the sums our architects suggested. The Design Diplomacy project was a mammoth undertaking for our small self started residents group, and we promote it as as a step towards consensus decision making. A step towards a peaceful and deliverable outcome.

We are of course aware that the housing associations have to work to specifications defined by government, that this makes it too expensive for the existing homes to be repaired with public funds. Private buyers however can renovate the houses to a very high standard at a much lower cost. When we have suggested that some houses be released for private sale so that ordinary people, heritage developers and housing co-ops can fix them at their own expense, the idea was ridiculed.

Since Plus Dane Group and LCC don’t want to release the houses for sale we have not thought it possible to force them to, and so as David Gibbens’ report says, reluctantly accepted the proposal now thrown out by Eric Pickles. As a measure of the seriousness of these offers to buy skeptics take note – Princess Park Housing Co-op who have made offers to buy some of the Welsh Street empties over a period of many years have now purchased two houses on the non demolition side of Kelvin Grove and are starting repairs. There is no way to measure the frustration we feel knowing that the authorities have denied, derided, mocked and ignored offers from Princess Park Housing co-op and others in the open the market , a market that Pickles rightly assesses as fixed. In preferring to destroy houses that others would gladly repair the housing authorities have created both national scandal and local misery of truly epic proportions.

At some point in the next five weeks we will find out if LCC plan to pursue an appeal against Eric Pickles decision. In the meantime we are hoping still – at the eleventh hour, in the eleventh year that a sensible solution can be found by agreement, because as we have seen over the past decade the failure to do so hurts the residents and no one else.

Welsh Streets Home Group have sent out the following press statement, following the announcement today that the Plus Dane planning application has been blocked by the Home Secretary, despite being approved by the Planning Inspector. The group are has put considerable resources attempting to avoid this scenario, through design, […]

Shocked & speechless…………………….

Welsh Streets Home Group have sent out the following press statement, following the announcement today that the Plus Dane planning application has been blocked by the Home Secretary, despite being approved by the Planning Inspector. The group are has put considerable resources attempting to avoid this scenario, through design, dialogue, and consultation. We hope that work to develop a viable route to area renewal can begin immediately.

Statement
Welsh Streets Home Group

“Eric Pickles refusal of planning consent for the Plus Dane proposal comes as shocking news to residents today. We have no way of knowing what will become of us now, or how long rebuilding our area will take. We call on the authorities to immediately resolve problems for residents in damp homes, and urgently progress with new plans for the Welsh Streets until they are restored or replaced. Our biggest worries are the continuing community stress, and the antagonism between LCC and central government that this decision creates. We hope all parties will find some common ground and come together swiftly. We need a plan to end our 11 year purgatory ”

Progress is frozen in our parallel Narnia where its always Winter and never Christmas

The authorities thought there might be a verdict from the Welsh Streets Public Inquiry this month. Yet still we await the Inspector’s Report, Eric Pickles’ response to it, and word from the […]

Season’s Greetings from the Welsh Streets

Progress is frozen in our parallel Narnia where its always Winter and never Christmas

The authorities thought there might be a verdict from the Welsh Streets Public Inquiry this month. Yet still we await the Inspector’s Report, Eric Pickles’ response to it, and word from the Council about what’s next.

And so we enter 2015 – our eleventh year of waiting for the spell to be lifted, and for the the ruined Welshies to be repaired or replaced, repopulated and replanted.

Perhaps next year will see the delivery of a housing scheme and a new beginning. It can’t come soon enough for the residents who are striving for the kind of normality most people think of as their right. A kind of normal we have all but forgotten in the oubliette of regeneration failures.

Welsh Streets Public Inquiry opens at Cunard Building 10 am Tuesday 17th June

We can work it out …..

Ten years go a regeneration scheme was proposed for Liverpool’s Welsh Streets. It quickly became controversial as residents opposed to the demolition of their […]

blighted lives ; rat skeleton2014

Welsh Streets Public Inquiry opens at Cunard Building 10 am Tuesday 17th June

We can work it out …..

Ten years go a regeneration scheme was proposed for Liverpool’s Welsh Streets. It quickly became controversial as residents opposed to the demolition of their homes, organized as the Welsh Streets Home Group (WSHG)

With a membership of residents from the clearance zone, and neighbouring streets, the WSHG have spent a decade communicating about design possibilities that retained more of the existing Welsh Streets. They did surveys and newsletters, helped people write letters, and attended Council meetings. Their mantra was to ask the Council to look at alternatives to demolition for part of the site. After a decade of seeking a compromise, 40 houses in Madryn Street High Park Street and Kelvin Grove were withdrawn from demolition, on the proviso that all the remaining 280 houses would be demolished. It is very disappointing that so few houses escaped demolition, given the thousands of letters written by locals in support of the existing houses. However WSHG accept that saving more houses is unlikely and did not oppose the current application or campaign against it. They felt that after ten years of trying they could achieve no more, and the construction of 150 new houses should begin, allowing people stuck in poor housing to finally arrive in new homes.

This view was not shared by SAVE Britain’s Heritage who have called for the Public Inquiry that opens today (17.6.14) in a move that increases concerns that further delays will be inflicted on hapless residents who have lived with an uncertain future for a decade already.

For further houses to be spared it would take a leap of faith – a change of heart by LCC, their partners Plus Dane, and the approval of residents on the South end of the site, who seek new homes, because their existing walls are crumbling around them. It would also need more money than is currently available.

WSHG research shows that changing the balance of refurbished and new-build properties retains strong support, and if there were more houses spared SAVE and other objectors may then feel satisfied that heritage, place-making, and choice had been better represented in the final outcome and exit the situation allowing work to begin on site.

The priority for Welsh Streets Home Group, and many of the clearance area residents, is to press for the speedy delivery of new and refurbished homes. Fears that the Inspector’s recommendations in December may be followed by a time consuming Judicial Review are mounting. WSHG wanted to avoid a Public Inquiry but since it is happening, we will be asking The Inspector to encourage all parties back to the negotiating table in search of an agreement that would allow work to begin on site in 2015 before the allocated funding is withdrawn.

‘Every empty home in the Welsh Streets is an empty dream. It’s a blank space where someone either wanted to stay, or repair, or leave and demolish for redevelopment. In ten long years not one of these dreams has been fulfilled and the space is frozen by the inability of the stakeholders to respect each others wishes. The Welsh Streets have become a vale of tears”

The Welsh Streets Public Inquiry starts next Tuesday 17th June 2014 just over ten years after we discovered the Welsh Streets were in a clearance scheme. Now with 42 houses spared from demolition, work on the site has been delayed by a call in from Eric […]

Wynnstay St May 2013

The Welsh Streets Public Inquiry starts next Tuesday 17th June 2014 just over ten years after we discovered the Welsh Streets were in a clearance scheme. Now with 42 houses spared from demolition, work on the site has been delayed by a call in from Eric Pickles. This delays delivery of new and refurbished homes, and threatens funding earmarked for the area.

The Public Inquiry that now takes place has left residents dismayed and in dread that further delays might prevent work starting into a second decade of decay. The possibility of Judicial Review as a further spanner in the works has been mentioned.

Are the plans on offer as good as they could be ? Are there enough refurbishments already agreed for the site at 42 out of some 400 houses, and are SAVE right to bring the Planning Inspector here to look at the situation ?

What do you think ? Do you want to give say anything to the Public Inspector about the Welsh Streets – and did you know anyone can speak as a member of the public.

2 go to the Cunard Building on the waterfront, Water St, Liverpool, L3 on Tuesday June 17th at 10 am

and register to speak.

(If you can’t make it to the Cunard on the 17th just call Yvonne and ask what to do)

2 Write down what you want to say – as much or as little as you want.

3 Turn up to speak on July 1st or 2nd TBC

If you can’t attend you can put a written statement in.

WSHG are going to ask the Inspector to advise all concerned to reach an agreement and start work on site as soon as possible after a decade of decay.

We are worried there may be further judicial delays, and the loss of funds if the Inquiry is not used as an opportunity for Plus Dane, SAVE Britain’s Heritage and Liverpool City Council to negotiate and agree a solution to develop the site

Hello from WSHG

We are a group of residents who reject whole site demolition in favour of repair wherever possible, to deliver solid eco-friendly homes. We accept demolition when necessary and look forward to new homes and old homes being completed on the site.